"Successful" is one word which could describe the fall half of the men's swimming and diving team's season. "Deceptive" is another.

"It was not tremendously significant," Coach Peter Brown said of the team's first-place showing at the IUPUI Invitational. "It's always hard to tell (how good the team is) until the second half of the year."

The Lions are not overconfident from their fall success.

"It's still early in the season, and not a lot of teams swim well this early," senior breaststroker James Sloat said.

Nonetheless, Brown had an abundance of accolades for his team's performance over the course of the three-day event. The Lions (2-0, 1-0 in the Big Ten), finished with 926 points, almost 150 points ahead of second-place Illinois. Ball State finished third with 696, followed by Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio University and Kentucky, respectively.

"Everyone swam really well," tri-captain Andy Archer said. "This was a good learning experience. Being on the road is tough, and over a three-day meet you have to keep focused."

"It was a solid performance, but there were a lot of little things we have to get better at," Brown said. "We managed to be real consistent. We held our own -- in trials and finals we did a good, solid job."

The competition, particularly from Big Ten opponents, was tough, Brown said.

"Illinois was a lot stronger than last year," he said. "Michigan State and Purdue had their ups and downs, but that may have to do with their training."

There were many strong performances from the Lions, and Brown said he could "say something good about everybody who swam."

Freshman Chip Berry continued his tremendous start to his collegiate career by breaking the three-year-old freshman record in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 15 minutes, 45.91 seconds. This came only two weeks after he set the record in the 1,000 free in his first collegiate dual meet.

"Chip had a real solid meet," Brown said. "He had a lot of nice, strong swims."

Sloat won the 200 breaststroke in 2:02.24, with Archer finishing a close second with 2:03.00.

"(They) did real well, but they're going to get a lot better," Brown said of the duo.

"I was hoping to swim a lot faster, but I'm the kind of person who needs a lot of rest," Sloat said.

Senior Adam Carroll lead a second- through fifth-place sweep in the 200 free. Carroll finished in 45.84, followed by Ed Adelman, Doug Cooper and Ed Erdos, respectively.

"Adam probably had the best mid-season meet he's ever had," Brown said.

With the fall portion of the season now completed, Brown said the team knows where it stands.

"We're definitely a better team than we were a year ago," he said. "We swam well for (this point in the season), but we're going to get a lot better."

"I have a good feeling for where I'm at and the team has a feeling for where it's at," Sloat said. "This meet told us a lot."

The Lions next competition will be Jan. 9 when they host LaSalle at McCoy Natatorium.